Idea for a magazine section

[Turrican]

I can't really think of a good idea off the top of my head, but you could devote a page or two and put some printed code on it, like the old mags used to and people can spend half an hour typing it, only to see syntax error.... how cool would THAT be?

[sparky]

How about having a collectors corner, dedicated to people who collect something retro, such as certain hardware, software. Maybe you could also have a group of people who share a common interest.

[DonkeySpank]

For example, I read this a number of months ago on ET for the Atari 2600:
http://www.randomterrain.com/a2m/r7et.html

It may not be the best written thing ever, but it has real heart and I found it interesting. Not only that, but now I actually like ET for the 2600. He did a good job of explaining of why it's good, and also debunking a lot of the negative things said about it.

Y'know, I've ALWAYS had a soft spot for ET on the 2600. There was just something about it - although come to think of it, at the time I had that game I was into ANYTHING with ET's gormless mug on the front - pencils, notepads, t-shirts, cups, games, toys, lunchboxes, stickers, etc etc etc.

I recently (well about 2 yrs ago) picked up a copy for the 2600 from fleaBay and oddly enough i STILL love it - and it's a mean little b*tch of a game too, never got close to completing the bugger yet!

[russtheterrier]

How about a sort of factfile for each machine profiled in the magazine. Just a handy reference file - maybe just a one page spread that will help newcomers to that particular machine know how much of a task they've set themselves to get to know it better.

Could include the type of machine, the manufacturer, when launched, no. of game titles available (if known), best online sites (for reference NOT just downloading roms), most popular emulators, how often they appear on ebay, magazines of the past devoted to the machine, 10 or 20 'must own' games. Where to go if you own a machine and it needs repair. Major software companies, etc, etc.

If the factfile was listed a few months after the main feature readers and advertisers could help produce it.....

[LeeT]

An idea:

How about some Top Trumps style cards with different computers/consoles and facts and figures - Could either be a covermount or cut-out in the mag?

[necronom]

Top Trumps!

What a fantastic idea!

[Mayhem]

Y'know, I've ALWAYS had a soft spot for ET on the 2600. There was just something about it - although come to think of it, at the time I had that game I was into ANYTHING with ET's gormless mug on the front - pencils, notepads, t-shirts, cups, games, toys, lunchboxes, stickers, etc etc etc.

All I'll say about ET on the 2600, is that if you think that's the worst 2600 game ever, you can't have played many 2600 games!

Actually the idea for the game was reasonably sound, just poor Howard Scott Warshaw (nice bloke) only had 6 weeks to put it together. Even though this was a basic machine, it still took on average the one programmer assigned to each project about 4-6 months to complete a title from idea to release.

Contrast that to 2600 Pacman, where Tod Frye had much more time to program the game by comparison, but was limited by the fact Atari refused to allow the chip size to double on his request and he was stuck with what he could achieve with the 4k he had.

What people fail to grasp is that both games sold millions. Atari made a lot of income from both. They also lost a lot on the unsold millions of copies they made, and the licensing deals required to get both titles.

[NorthWay]

I had a chat to Archer McLean on the weekend about stuff like this - I mentioned that one of the most interesting things about DVDs is the Director's Commentary which always contains little anecdotes and bits of info on how certain things were done, or why certain things appear in certain ways. It would be good to have an article along thse lines about how IK+ for expample was put together, I thought this would be an interesting little piece to read as there's a load of little tricksy things in IK+ that happend when you press certain keys. Turns out Archer is full of great anecdotes like this about games he's written, it was great to hear a few over a beer or two. For instance, I now know why the backflip animation in IK+ is so smooth and just where it came from

Most Excellent Idea. (What are you waiting for?)

[NorthWay]

I'd be interested in seeing a "family tree" or soft-/hard-o-graphy showing how persons/people/companies through time has made software or hardware.
Lots of hw companies have been _very_ anonymous and have been taken over (Hi Toro), legally blackmailed into selling their design (7800), or simply done an outsourced job for Big Name Company (Jaguar?).
Who are they, what have they done, and what are they working on today? Oh, and search for any HW That Wasn't.

Same for sw; some companies held a very strict "No Credits" line (Atari), some were simply left out, and others were contractors and delivered a product under their company name to Big Company. Was Tony and Anthony Crowther the same guy? (Yes)
And where are they today?

[NorthWay]

I'd be interested in seeing a "family tree" or soft-/hard-o-graphy showing how persons/people/companies through time has made software or hardware.
Lots of hw companies have been _very_ anonymous and have been taken over (Hi Toro), legally blackmailed into selling their design (7800), or simply done an outsourced job for Big Name Company (Jaguar?).
Who are they, what have they done, and what are they working on today? Oh, and search for any HW That Wasn't.

Now, to follow up myself, I just read the excellent http://www.konixmultisystem.co.uk/ that a recent Konix thread pointed to and (IIRC now) the story is as follows:

Loki -> Flare One -> Konix -> Panther -> Jaguar (+ SNES 3D chip)

And suddenly a heckuvalot of stuff fell in place. Why have you not talked to these good chaps(/chappesses?), and where is the "BTT 80s/90s" writeups on the then current rumours?
I remember the Loki being the Great White Hope of the ZX82 crowd (much like Jeff Minter hoping for AMIE(AMY?) to come to the ST line), and is there any connection to the SAM Coupe here?
Oh, and what is the thing about 256 pixel wide screenmodes?

[Muteki]

Off-the-top-of-my-head idea:

Maybe you could do a regular one-pager about some of the weird poo that has appeared in games since the beginning of time. Not just bugs that do amusing things*, but also strange cheats that don't really do anything**, and other purposely-included oddness***.

* ie. That Master System football game (?) that counted own-goals as a goal against your opponent
** ie. The alternate 'sequel' title screens in Shadow Dancer (MD)
*** ie. The revolving panda's head that appears when you shoot a certain crate in Strider

You could give each one marks for strangeness, comical effect, and downright idiocy.

[GarryG]

How about a profile article on Warp, the people and their games.
Definitely one of the more 'out there' software houses, almost (if not quite) as far out as Lamasoft!

[Antiriad2097]

Off-the-top-of-my-head idea:

Maybe you could do a regular one-pager about some of the weird poo that has appeared in games since the beginning of time. Not just bugs that do amusing things*, but also strange cheats that don't really do anything**, and other purposely-included oddness***.

* ie. That Master System football game (?) that counted own-goals as a goal against your opponent
** ie. The alternate 'sequel' title screens in Shadow Dancer (MD)
*** ie. The revolving panda's head that appears when you shoot a certain crate in Strider

You could give each one marks for strangeness, comical effect, and downright idiocy.

My favourite of these is the Die Hard Trilogy 'Alien invasion' code for the driving game.

[1500graham]

I'd be interested to read about what the guys from Zzap!, Crash or C&VG are doing these days or an interview would be great. It may have already been done but nevertheless it would still be good.

[djcarlos]

I'd love an article / column / feature on easter eggs, cheats, unlockables etc.

I love that stuff!

I don't mean cheat codes for current stuff, there's GameFAQs for that.